About

Underlings of Underwing: A Game of Color Theory and Dragons

$32,271

pledged of $12,500 goal

792

backers

Once every century, the dragons of Underwing return to their ancient brooding grounds for a Great Hatching. Whelps, drakes, wyverns, and wyrms alike dart through the air as the world's most daring tamers try their hands at capturing and training these wondrous, winged beasts.

Armed with an array of colored Elements, players hatch a horde of dragons by strategically placing gemstones within nesting sites. Of course, different eggs thrive in the presence of different elements, so would-be tamers must optimize the use of their Dragon Handler underlings to stake claim, add gemstones, and fetch more resources. At the end of the Great Hatching, the tamer with the most Dragon Points is proclaimed Underwing's next great Dragonlord.

Underlings of Underwing is an award-winning, worker-placement and resource management game for one to six players. Gazing out into the Hatching Grounds, players imbue Dragon eggs using elemental crystals gathered by their Handlers in an attempt to successfully hatch the greatest collection of Dragons following the rules of color theory. It takes about 30-60 minutes; more players means longer playing time.

Originally designed by Alisha Volkman for the The Game Crafter's Learning Game Design Contest (co-sponsored by The Pericles Group), Underlings of Underwing not only took first place, but impressed us so much that we wanted to publish it under The Pericles Group brand. Underwing does so many things right with regards to helping players better understand the principles of color theory while simultaneously succeeding as a fantastic lightweight game, appealing to all ages, with potential for incredible strategic play.

Underlings of Underwing is played in rounds, otherwise known as hours during Hatching Day in the realm of Underwing. Each hour has 4 phases in order to maximize efficiency when it comes to hatching Dragons.

Element Collection

Move and Assign Dragon Handlers

Add Elements to Eggs / Hatch Wild Dragons

Hatch Eggs / Collect Completed Eggs / Discover New Eggs

At the conclusion of each hour (round), the Egg Token (indicating Player 1) is passed to the left and the hour pawn is advanced one space to the right.

Phase 1 - Collect Elements

Beginning with Player 1 and rotating to the left, each player draws the appropriate Element from the Element Bag for each Dragon Handler he or she has currently on the Field. If the player has no Handlers on the Field, it is a blind draw rather than a specific Element.

Colorful Elemental Crystals!

Phase 2 - Move and Assign Dragon Handlers

Handlers are your workers who perform all of your tasks for you. They can gather specific elements, stake a claim on eggs, or hatch eggs to ensure all proper safety protocols are followed.

A view of the Field and Hatching Grounds

Starting with Player 1 and rotating to the left, each player may perform one of the following actions until they have made all the moves they wish to make. These include managing Handlers on the Field, claiming Eggs, or recalling Handlers to use in future rounds.

Close up view of the Hatching Grounds

Phase 3 - Placing Elements on Eggs

Starting with Player 1 and rotating to the left, each player must place 1 Element they own on an Egg card for every Dragon Handler they currently have on their staff.

Eggs Infused with Elemental Energy

Elements follow the rules of colors and players are able to combine primary colors to make secondary colors. For example, a Red and Blue Element placed together on a slot for Purple Element fulfills that requirement.

Phase 4 - Hatching and Claiming Completed Eggs

At the beginning of this phase, players hatch completed Eggs they have claimed in the previous round. Players then claim completed eggs, fill vacant spaces in the Hatching Ground, and then play continues to the next round.

Digital Files

All tiers will earn you access to downloadable content and allow you to participate in the community voting as the campaign progresses. Rather than having multiple tiers and confusing rewards, we want to keep things as simple as possible!

Whelp Tier ($1+): You get our thanks (and the blessings of the Ancient Dragon Lords, of course)!

Drake Tier ($29): You get the game and ALL stretch goals!

Wyvern Tier ($49): You get the game, ALL stretch goals, and the game mat!

Wyrm Tier (RETAILER): This tier is available to US retailers including brick & mortar stores. Please contact Kevin (kevin@practomime.com) for additional information.

Legendary Dragon Tier ($125): If you pledge at this tier, you will work with us to create a new Legendary Dragon to be included with the base game. You will help us select the Elements used to create the Dragon, any unique artistic characteristics, and the name. This tier also includes a copy of the game, all the stretch goals, the 14"x24" play mat, and access to all the downloadable content.

In order to keep the campaign moving forward and the game consistent, we reserve the final editorial rights and, if we cannot agree, we will refund the difference. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Additional Copies: If you would like additional copies of Underwing, simply add $25 to your pledge if you are pledging from the US or Canada. For all other international backers, please add $30 to your pledge. This reflects the reduced shipping cost and you're still getting the below retail discount!

Game Mats: While not required for play, the 14x24" game mats allow for an organized Hatching Grounds and larger Field Space. These rollable mats will be backed with sturdy rubber and printed on cloth. A single game mat is included in the $49 Wyvern Tier, but if you would like an additional mat to go with your additional copy (on any tier), just add another $20 to your pledge.

Underlings of Underwing comes with a unique solo variant (i.e., not a "ghost player" version of the 2-6 player game) that retells of the story of the original Dragonlord. Narratively, this explains how the first wild elements were tamed and the Great Hatching made possible for Underwing's other would-be dragon tamers.

During solo play, the Dragonlord must contend with an infusion of wild elements into the Hatching Ground and race to hatch as many tame dragons as possible. Victory depends on careful planning and anticipation of wild elements to come. How many Dragon Points can you rack up before the countdown timer expires?

The solo variant includes special Field and Tracker mats that are included on the reverse sides of the core game Field and Tracker mats, respectively.

Over the last few months, we've focused on designing Underlings of Underwing to be as accessible as possible to as wide an audience as possible. Naturally, building a game about color theory while pre-empting potential color vision challenges has been tough, but the wonderful feedback we've received has helped make it happen!

Each of the eight color slots on the egg cards feature a unique elemental symbol (e.g., raindrop for water/blue, a flame for fire/orange, etc.), and the player reference mat has been revised to include storage space that allows for simple gem sorting (both the color symbol and name are written in the space). We've also increased the saturation and contrast levels on the symbols to make them stand out more clearly (especially on the parchment background) and added simple 'Phase Order' and color theory reference items.

Have other suggestions for improving the game's accessibility? Please let us know in the comments!

Founded in 2010, The Pericles Group, LLC provides game-based learning solutions for educators of every grade level, instructional environment, and discipline. In large part due to our previous Kickstarter successes, we’ve been able to produce several game-based and game-infused instructional tools, including multi-year game-based curricula, educational card games, and an iOS language learning app. We’re still a small business, but it’s our hope to shift to full-time game development so we can keep making strides in educational game development for teachers, parents, and students everywhere.

That makes every social media share, interview, and review a colossal help! We can't succeed without your assistance so please don't be shy about spreading the word.

Canadian Backers: Subsidized shipping; we'll work with a Canadian-friendly shipping partner to ensure that you have no extra custom charges.

European Union Backers: Subsidized shipping; we'll work with a EU-friendly shipping partner to ensure that you have no extra custom charges.

Rest of the World: Subsidized shipping; we'll do our best to reduce or eliminate custom charges to the greatest extend possible depending on the number of backers from around the world. At the very least, we'll label the packages as "Kickstarter Rewards" and set the declared value as the cost of manufacturing.

Risks and challenges

This is our fourth Kickstarter campaign. Two of the three other campaigns were 1) tabletop games, 2) complete before the campaign began (i.e., finished product at KSer start date), and 3) delivered ahead of schedule.

Underlings of Underwing has been thoroughly tested (e.g., multiple Protospiel events, GenCon First Exposure Playtest Hall, CT-FIG, etc.), and its art assets are nearly complete (pending minor corrections). Only a few tasks will be left until after the campaign (e.g., professional editing of the rulebook).

We're using a conservative delivery timeline and working with a reputable game manufacturer to produce the game. We are confident that we can (and will) provide a high-quality game on time and without complication.

Support

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Pledge US$ 1 or more
About US$ 1.00

Whelp

Your support means a lot to the success of this project. You'll be part of the campaign, get access to the all the downloadable content, and be able to vote in any polls to the community throughout the campaign.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

Legendary Dragon

You get a copy of Underlings of Underwing with all the stretch goals and access to all of the downloadable content. You also will receive the deluxe playmat for use with the game.
In addition, you will work with the team on creating a custom Legendary Dragon to add to the game. This will include selecting the Elemental colors used to hatch the egg, ideas for unique visual enhancements, and naming the dragon. The creative team reserves the right to make editorial decisions regarding the appropriateness of the creation.